J.B. Floyd

Floyd's fascinating career as a pianist and composer covers the wide range of directions open to and requiring a response from any American musician. His musical interests and activity have included classical piano recitals and solo appearances with orchestra, new music performances as soloist and collaborator, and dynamic jazz improvisations. In the 1970s, he founded the multimedia electronic ensemble called the Electric Stereopticon. In recent years, he has collaborated on many occasions with innovative composer/violinist/pianist David Rosenboom in concerts of two-piano improvisations throughout North America and Europe, including a recent performance on Yamaha Disklaviers from simultaneous "virtual stages" in Santa Monica, CA, and New York City over the Internet Electric Cafe International, a network of sites around the world linked by teleconferencing systems, videophones, and computers. Floyd's compositions include solo piano pieces, works for piano and Disklavier and other computer-assisted electronic instruments. There are also works for chorus, orchestra, and jazz ensembles. His compositions have received performances in Europe, Canada, South America, and throughout the United States. Floyd's music covers a wide range of techniques and emotions. His piano piece Solos and Sequences (1995) was recently reviewed as "music spiked with zigzagging 12-tone riffs and propulsive outbursts" (A. Tommasini, NY Times, May 10, 2001). He is currently Chairman of the Department of Keyboard Performance at the University of Miami.